I looked into this further, and the actual injury was a dislocation (the ball pops out of the socket of the hip joint) and fracture of the femoral head (the ball). Femoral head fractures are very rare injuries, almost always caused by hip dislocation itself.

Most of these can be treated by closed reduction (non-surgically) both of the dislocation and fracture. When closed reduction fails or there are loose fracture segments left floating in the joint, they must be removed, or if they are large enough surgically reattached with wire or screws, etc.

This is not a cue ball. It is a femoral head with large fracture fragment being reduced and secured with a screw.:

This is a very serious injury in that the femoral head circulation is commonly disrupted, especially if there is a large fracture segment as seems to be the case with Pitta. If this is disrupted, there is a high risk of a condition called avascular necrosis, which is basically the counterpart in bone to "gangrene" that occurs in soft tissues.

In summary, this is a very unfortunate injury for this young man........one that is very likely career-ending.........and very likely to ultimately lead to the need for hip joint replacement

Hervoyel

07-28-2013 08:25 AM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Little early in the morning for that image Cloak. I'm normally not easily made queasy but for some reason that one caught me off guard. Yuck!

ChampionTexan

07-28-2013 08:45 AM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Quote:

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger
(Post 2185819)

This is a very serious injury in that the femoral head circulation is commonly disrupted, especially if there is a large fracture segment as seems to be the case with Pitta. If this is disrupted, there is a high risk of a condition called avascular necrosis, which is basically the counterpart in bone to "gangrene" that occurs in soft tissues.

In summary, this is a very unfortunate injury for this young man........one that is very likely career-ending.........and very likely to ultimately lead to the need for hip joint replacement

Is this pretty much the same injury that ended Bo Jackson's football career?

thunderkyss

07-28-2013 09:08 AM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

I could have done without the graphic images... a little warning would be nice.

Yes, I'm a wuss.

CloakNNNdagger

07-28-2013 09:23 AM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChampionTexan
(Post 2185824)

Is this pretty much the same injury that ended Bo Jackson's football career?

You are correct. Bo Jackson also suffered a fracture dislocation of the hip.

The fact is that a dislocation of the hip is bad enough as far potential for leading to avascular necrosis.

In the picture below, you can see on the (apparent) right all the major blood vessels feeding the femoral head (mostly from the medial femoral circumflex artery of the femoral artery). When the hip is pulled out of the socket (dislocation) these vessels are torn to various extents, decreasing the blood circulation to the head. If a large fragment of the head is fractured (totally separated from its circulation), this situation essentially almost delivers a final "coup de gras."

There are articles out there debating what the Ravens should do because the Raven are worried that he hits the FA market next year, and since there would be so much interest, will they need to "franchise" him in order to maintain his services next year...................I seriously doubt that this will be the real problem for Ravens. :kitten:

Playoffs

07-28-2013 12:17 PM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Quote:

Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta underwent successful surgery Saturday night at a local hospital to repair the damage to a fractured and dislocated hip injury suffered during practice, according to a source.

Pitta had his hip popped back into place and small bone fragment removed from the hip with doctors not having to be invasive and affect the muscle tissue, per the source. That's regarded as a relatively good development for one of the Ravens' top offensive players that should speed his recovery time.

Further tests will be conducted to determine if there's ligament damage, though.

The ligaments holding the hip joint head (ball) in place are extremely heavy and strong. Extreme force that is required to dislocate the hip to begin with. All anterior dislocations involve significant tears of the ligaments. And most all of the posterior dislocations suffer the same. Also there is commonly associated cartilage damage. Besides, it is the later post-traumatic problems (not known for weeks or months) that end up being the ultimately debilitating factors. This injury is a much greater career concern than is being described in the "report."

Playoffs

07-28-2013 02:27 PM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider

Quote:

Visanthe Shiancoe just signed one year deal team announced

Norg

07-28-2013 10:15 PM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

man the elite AFC teams u thought that were going to be there this year might flip flop

obvs the ravens wont be has good but I think Denver and the pats wont be has good either

and the 2nd teir teams will obvs fill that void

PapaL

07-28-2013 11:14 PM

Gronk, Hernandez, Pitta all out/gone. OD should be a shoe in for ProBowl.

Too bad he'll be headed to the Super Bowl and won't be able to play.

The Pencil Neck

07-28-2013 11:33 PM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaL
(Post 2186035)

Gronk, Hernandez, Pitta all out/gone. OD should be a shoe in for ProBowl.

Too bad he'll be headed to the Super Bowl and won't be able to play.

:bravo:

I see what you did there and I agree.

:fans:

revan

07-31-2013 07:33 PM

Re: Ravens' Pitta dislocates hip

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaL
(Post 2186035)

Gronk, Hernandez, Pitta all out/gone. OD should be a shoe in for ProBowl.

Too bad he'll be headed to the Super Bowl and won't be able to play.

Going to have to jump early in Fantasy Football for a good TE with all these guys dropping like flies.

PapaL

07-31-2013 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revan
(Post 2187318)

Going to have to jump early in Fantasy Football for a good TE with all these guys dropping like flies.